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TIGSource ForumsCommunityJams & EventsCompetitionsOld CompetitionsProcedural GenerationRescue: The Beagles [FINISHED-BETA]
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Author Topic: Rescue: The Beagles [FINISHED-BETA]  (Read 136050 times)
nenad
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« on: May 19, 2008, 01:13:30 AM »

Hello,

I decided to hop in. This is one of the ideas that was sitting in my drawer for quite some time. I'm thinking - participating in the compo could be a good opportunity to actually prototype it.


Visuals:

Here's the mockup/sketch showing the look and giving some hints about the possible features:




And here's the screenie of the current state of the game (platform mechanic and movement is fully operational now as well as the map generation):




Story:
A cargo airplane crashed somewhere above the wast areas of the Amita range. It was carrying a large shipment of beagles headed to the CutLab, a huge animal testing facility.

The Lab is upset about losing it's precious testing material and is deploying a biohazard division determined to reclaim it's property. They operate under the strict orders: seize the usable specimens, kill the rest.

We're sending three of our elite animal rights activists to rescue as many dogs as possible before the Lab's grunts confine them back to the life of endless misery.


Mechanics:
Basically, it's a side scrolling platformer. The map scrolls automatically at the constant speed (think Scramble) and the player need to negotiate the terrain to advance.

I'd like to keep it simple, more like a minigame. You need to collect the beagles and avoid the bad guys. There'll probably be some way to fend off the baddies.

More info on the mechanics in following posts.

This is my first attempt at something platformey. If somebody is tempted to accuse me of ripping of the you know what and the you know what else, I don't really mind. When you're learning, learn from the best, me sez Tongue

Seriously though, beside the obvious, I'd like to reference two great games from the 8 bit era that I think were my main visual and gameplay inspiration for this (conscious at least though the connection might not be obvious): The Sentinel and River Raid. Both excellent examples of procedurally generated game worlds although in quite a different way.


Procedural:
As it can probably be deduced from the mockup, I'm not forcing the procedural generation just for the sake of it. Rather, it'll be used as a complementary tool on top of the hand made content.

The main thing that's generated is the map which can extend to infinity. At first I've built a demo with perlin-based procedural maps having a lot of various terrain features. It was even meant to be isometric, more like Sentinel (screenie here). This proved to be too confusing to play on with the movement mechanics I had in mind. I had to reduce it to a much simpler tile based system. It's not only easier to grasp and navigate but it's looking a lot better too.

The map is generated using the Markov chain. The algorithm is fed a short human made terrain sequence. It then goes on and produce a map of any size mimicking the structure of the input. 


That's it for now. Hopefully, I'll finish it by the deadline. At least to some degree.


** Double edit:
Download beta (updated with online high scores, extra lives and other goodies)
« Last Edit: June 04, 2008, 10:49:38 AM by nenad » Logged
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« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2008, 01:46:06 AM »

Sounds cool! And looks cool too Smiley
Markov chains are FTW too! Smiley
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gustav
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« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2008, 03:15:54 AM »

The graphics are insanely cute Tongue
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BenH
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Dirty boy, wash your hands!


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« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2008, 05:38:03 AM »

Must save the hurt beagle puppy! Cry
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shrimp
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« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2008, 09:06:17 AM »

Really loving the style of this, and the simple gameplay ideas. And lip balm residue :D

The black strip with white text at the bottom makes it look like one of those motivational posters. How about a randomly generated motivational phrase? Smiley

/makes secret mental note to investigate Markov chains for own project
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ichi
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« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2008, 11:29:13 AM »

This looks really sweet, I love the style and minimalism  Kiss
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FARTRON
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« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2008, 12:55:31 PM »

Looks good, but I question the need for a colon in the title.
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Ivan
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alright, let's see what we can see


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« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2008, 01:09:44 PM »

The colon invites possible sequels which is always good.
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13_11
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« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2008, 02:45:29 PM »

I really like the simplicity of your trees (looking forward to Dawn, anyway) and the Knyttish atmosphere - which is in my opinion one of the best "drag into" out there on the indie planescapes. So keep up the good work; looks nice.

And music? Planning any? How about give a try of procedural funky jazz?
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Pip
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« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2008, 03:40:41 PM »

procedural funky jazz
Shocked I'm suddenly wondering if I have time for a second entry
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13_11
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« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2008, 04:22:59 PM »

Shocked I'm suddenly wondering if I have time for a second entry
13 days.. plenty of time; run for it, Forrest!

« Last Edit: May 19, 2008, 04:27:05 PM by 13_11 » Logged
Hideous
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3D models are the best


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« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2008, 09:29:50 PM »

 Shocked
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nenad
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« Reply #12 on: May 20, 2008, 11:43:42 PM »

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.

Must save the hurt beagle puppy! Cry

Cry


The black strip with white text at the bottom makes it look like one of those motivational posters. How about a randomly generated motivational phrase? Smiley

Hah, glad you noticed it because that's exactly where the inspiration for the layout came from. Love the idea of generated phrase. I'll put in something like that if there is time left.


/makes secret mental note to investigate Markov chains for own project

Markov chains are great for all sorts of things.


Looks good, but I question the need for a colon in the title.

As toastie wittily noted, it's a projection of my grandiose plan to have a franchise. Besides, I have a thing for stupid, fashionable naming conventions; like adding X's at the end of the names to make it sound badass/extraterrestial or mentioned 'colon notation' to make things appear more important than they actually are :D. Anyways the sequel will be - Rescue: Suicidal Goth Schoolgirls. No, seriously.


And music? Planning any? How about give a try of procedural funky jazz?

There'll be music but it will be non-procedural. I think the procedural music is risky business in terms of successfully provoking an emotional response in listener. But I wouldn't mind experiment with it if there was more time.

« Last Edit: May 21, 2008, 12:13:02 AM by nenad » Logged
Annabelle Kennedy
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« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2008, 12:27:10 AM »


im excited.

this looks simply great.
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nenad
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« Reply #14 on: May 22, 2008, 03:36:54 PM »



Just a brief status report.
Not a lot of visible difference from the last screenshot but a fair amount of stuff has been added.

The beagles are now in and can be collected. They don't behave too smart though. Puppy meds can be found on the map.

Player can use ropes and parachutes to climb and descend difficult cliffs.

Owls can be picked up from trees and thrown at (non-existing yet) enemies.

Scoring is working.

Color randomization via hue shift is working.
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Akhel
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« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2008, 03:47:14 PM »

Owls can be picked up from trees and thrown at (non-existing yet) enemies.

The competition is now over. We have a winner.
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Zaphos
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« Reply #16 on: May 22, 2008, 04:18:55 PM »

This is looking really sweet!  Keep it up Kiss
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nenad
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« Reply #17 on: May 22, 2008, 11:17:52 PM »

And here are some ingame snapshots of the various player actions (walking, falling with parachute, messing with the owls, jumping, climbing up the rope):

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nenad
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« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2008, 12:25:49 PM »



The vegetation generator is in place now. It picks a combination of several plant types from the assortment of dozen of low and high plants and scatters them around the terrain in chosen density. This is purely cosmetic, of course, but it adds to the atmosphere a bit.
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Pip
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« Reply #19 on: May 23, 2008, 04:52:08 PM »

Enough talk; let me rescue those damn Beagles.
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